UK Finance this week released its fraud report covering 2021, showing the scale of offences taking place, as well as how criminals took advantage of people’s doubts and fears during the pandemic, often by exploiting weaknesses outside of the banking system.

A total of over £1.3 billion was stolen through fraud and scams in 2021: unauthorised fraud was £730.4 million and authorised push payment (APP) fraud was £583.2 million, with nearly 40% of APP losses due to impersonation scams.

The banking and finance industry prevented a further £1.4 billion of unauthorised fraud from getting into the hands of criminals.

Given that much of the fraud is initiated from criminal activity taking place through online and technology platforms, UK Finance and its members have long-been calling for greater cross-sector action to tackle the problem, saying it’s striving to continue working with the government on upcoming legislation in this area.

Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said: “Unauthorised fraud losses fell last year, but this type of criminal activity remains a major problem. Through the introduction of new measures such as strong customer authentication, coupled with continued investment in technology, the banking and finance industry prevents significant amounts of fraud from taking place.

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“Authorised fraud losses rose again this year as criminals targeted people through a variety of sophisticated scams, with much of the criminal activity taking place outside the banking sector, often involving online and technology platforms. This is why we continue to call for other sectors to play a greater role in helping protect customers from the scourge of fraud.

“The upcoming Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill is an important development and provides the opportunity for the government to give new powers on information sharing and tracking stolen money. These are things we have long called for and will support efforts to work together and stop the fraud happening in the first place.”

Staying safe

UK Finance urges people to follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign, and remember that criminals are experts at impersonating people, organisations and the police.

They spend hours researching you for their scams, hoping you’ll let your guard down for just a moment. Stop and think. It could protect you and your money.

• Stop: Taking a moment to stop and think before parting with your money or information could keep you safe.
• Challenge: Could it be fake? It’s ok to reject, refuse or ignore any requests. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you.
• Protect: Contact your bank immediately if you think you’ve fallen for a scam and report it to Action Fraud.

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